Orbit Telecom / Mr Smiley / Unauthorized Billing on AT&T

I have been desperately seeking employment and have visited a number of Job boards. In my search I have never knowingly accepted or signed up for any messaging service... However, $14.95 appeared on my AT&T bill this month from Orbit Telecom. I immediately called and they said it was purchased through MrSmiley.com. I have checked my browser history and have never visited that site. However, they have a name, home phone number, and e-mail address and somehow dropped the charges right onto my phone bill. Under protest they refunded the charge.

I then called AT&T and asked them to put a BLOCK on ANY unauthorized or 3rd party charges. She said she did... we shall see...

Comments

Orbit Telecom provides its subscribers with a private voice mail service which enables access to voice mails via phone and email. We market the service on the Internet and continuously review our marketing and sign-up procedures and believe that they comply with all applicable laws and industry standard best practices.

We maintain excellent customer service 24 by 7 by 365 and you can reach us via phone at 800-263-0206 or online at http://www.orbittelecom.com/support.cfm. I’m confident we can address any customer service concerns you may have.

This is a deceptive scam that attempts to bill you phone bill without you noticing. They use data mining and deceptive advertisements to get "customer" information. Your phone company will claim they are required to bill you when a billing aggregator tells them to. "They have no control over the billing" they will claim. It is nearly impossible to reach the aggregator to complain and they will insist that they are just the middle man and handle no money in the transaction. Orbit telecom will insist that they did nothing wrong and attempt to keep what ever portion of the fraudulent billing that they can. First they offer to just cancel the "service". If you persist they will offer to cancel and give you one month refund. If you continue to complain they will offer two months. Keep complaining and they have to transfer you to their fraud department. The fraud department will only agree to give up to 6 months of their illegal gains back. When you complain about theft by fraud with your local police department, they will not pursue a claim for $100 or $200 because the company is out of state. When you contact the police department where the company is HQ, the police department there tells you to file a complaint with your local department. This so called company knows how to work the system and steal from people. If you know anyone that works for this company you can be certain that they are the ### of the earth and lock up your valuable when they come to your home. They have no values and will steal nickles from your kids piggy bank. The owner/founder of this company, Eyal Yechezkell, has multiple complaints of fraud and appears to not even be a US citizen. Hopefully they have scammed someone in Henderson, NV where they have their HQ so that the local police will give a darn. Keep an eye on your phone bills because this is not the only company that is working this scam. Other companies that are involved and complicit in this fraud are your local phone company, Enhanced Services Billing Inc. - ESBI (billing aggregator) and of course our friends Orbit Telecom. ESBI is located in San Antonio, TX and Orbit telecom moved its main office from Florida after being sued by the attorney general in that state and ended up in Henderson, NV.